I share the real-life stories that inspired my books, as well as other travel adventures, and posts on the food, history, and culture of the Southwest United States.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Carlsbad Caverns: A Caving Adventure in Southern New Mexico

I spotted this bit of wall that looks like a face in profile.

My husband and I recently took a vacation – the first one
we've done with only the two of us, not involving visiting family or friends,
in the 7+ years we've been together. We camped for most of the trip, which
required some investment in gear up front, but hopefully we'll continue to make
use of that gear. For the next few weeks, I'm going to share some photos and
notes on our adventure.

This National Park is definitely worth a visit. Right now
the elevators are out, though they are supposed to be working again soon. That
means you start a visit with a hike down the trail at the Natural Entrance. That
might not sound bad, but the path is 1.25 miles long, and it's steep! (In one
place on the webpage it calls it a750-foot trail, but I think that must be the change in
elevation.)

The Hall of the White Giant tour required some special equipment and a willingness to get muddy.

It's also interesting, with cool formations along the way.
Those who can't make the whole trek could still see some neat stuff by going in
part of the way, but if you don't get around well, you're better off waiting
until the elevators are repaired. Oh, and no strollers are allowed! (Baby
strollers, I mean, not people walking leisurely.) This could be pretty
important if you have young kids along. We definitely heard some complaining of
the "carry me" variety.

We made the trip down 1 1/2 times, because we started with a
special tour of the Hall of the White Giant. That
involved going halfway down the Natural Entrance walkway, and then turning off
at a spot in the wall where there is absolutely no sign of a tunnel.

Eight of us, plus two rangers, did the tour, which lasts
roughly 4 hours. It's considered the most strenuous tour, and involved some
crawling and wriggling. We also went up a narrow ladder with metal rungs, and
used ropes to get up and down a couple of steeper slopes. It should be doable
for anyone of decent fitness, as long as you're not too large. Most of our
group was in the small-to-average size range, including two young teenagers,
and everyone did great.

The rock is smooth and slick, so a knotted rope helps with this short climb.

The tour didn't actually show us anything more exciting than
you'd see in the self-guided Big Room tour. In fact, the White Giant was a
fairly modest pillar. It's really about the adventure of getting in and out.
You get a slight sense of what cavers go through when exploring caves that
haven't been totally adapted for tourists. My upcoming novel, The Skeleton Canyon Treasure, has some
caving scenes, so this was especially helpful to me. They also have everyone
turn off their headlamps for a minute, so you feel the quiet and silence of a
natural cave. The park offers several other special tours as well. The guides
were great.

After that tour, we went back to the surface level for lunch
at the restaurant. There is a restaurant down in the cave, but we wanted to
trade out some clothing and pick up a few things from our car (no backpacks
were allowed on the tour). We had a decent lunch and enjoyed the short walk in
the sunshine before heading back down to the Big Room, where we wandered for a
couple of hours. The formations are spectacular. We also discovered one
advantage to being there when the elevators are out of order: the cave wasn't
crowded, and the back part of the figure 8 loop was practically empty! At times
we had no one in sight in front or behind us on the winding path.

I didn't take any pictures in the Big Room, because I
figured better pictures exist on the web, from professionals with topnotch
equipment and more time. These pictures are from the Hall of the White Giant
tour.

The park offers backcountry camping, and there's an RV Park with tent camping sites in White’s City, but we chose to stay at Brantley State Park. It was a well-run park, with restrooms and showers, and water and electricity at many sites. Unfortunately, it was an hour drive to the Caverns. Your entrance fee gives you access for three days, so had we been staying closer, we might have done our special tour and the regular tour on two different days. On the bright side, we had lovely evenings with nice sunsets over the lake – although it was cold enough on the first night that we stopped in Carlsbad the next day to buy extra blankets!

Kris Bock writes novels of suspense and romance involving
outdoor adventures and Southwestern landscapes. In Counterfeits, stolen Rembrandt paintings bring danger to a small
New Mexico town. Whispers in the Dark
features archaeology and intrigue among ancient Southwest ruins. What We Found is a mystery with strong
romantic elements about a young woman who finds a murder victim in the woods. The Mad Monk’s Treasure follows the hunt
for a long-lost treasure in the New Mexico desert. In The Dead Man’s Treasure, estranged relatives compete to reach a
buried treasure by following a series of complex clues.